The Blackberry Curve Incident

File this under "tech", for the Google searches. One of my contributions to the internets.

Through Amazon.com, I purchased a new phone (Blackberry Curve) for a cool penny along with a 2-year service contract with Verizon. (Switching over from AT&T.)

Good deal. The mom and the girlfriend are both on Verizon, which translates to free texts and calls.

Ordered the phone on Black Friday. Received it the following Tuesday. All excited to switch up.

Couldn't activate the phone.

Called Verizon. The customer service rep told me that I received my phone before my service application could be put into the system. She said she HAD my service application and that she'd try to expedite it so that I could activate the phone that day. I just had to wait for a confirmation email.

No email that Tuesday.

No email on Wednesday, and I called again. This time, the customer service rep I spoke with couldn't find me at all on the system.

Tried Amazon.com help. They've actually got a pretty good help system. You can send them an email or you can have them call you.

Bit of a delay and run-around here. Picked up the cause again on Thursday, to receive a flurry of apologies from Amazon. A very helpful Verizon rep I spoke with clarified that the specific service plan that I ordered was not available with the specific model of phone I'd gotten... so my application got tossed!

He easily revised my plan, which was essentially the same deal. It was just a stupid technicality that no one had caught.

Yadda, yadda, yadda... active Verizon Blackberry Curve by Thursday afternoon.

So, be careful if you're impulse-buying one of those phones/plans through Amazon. If you go straight to one of the stores, it can be a lot easier. They set you up immediately and you're flying.